Kevin’s Corner on Exercise and Nutrition

I will try to keep this one brief.

If you are like me and are struggling to kick this high cholesterol monster off your back, your choice is simple, not easy, but simple.

Kick the bad guy Omega 6 to the curb. Tell him to get off your plate and don’t let the door hit him in the back side on the way out.

So, let’s start with how to get rid of Omega 6.

Like I said in my earlier post:

Omega 3’s come from the leaf of a plant and Omega 6’s come from the seed of a plant. The plant that is in question and primarily our dietary source of Omega 6’s are Grain or Cereal Plants. Heck, our diet is about 70% of this stuff.

So, what is the seed of a plant?

Pretty simple question and logical… OK. Here is what I can name off the top of my head:

• Corn or Maize
• Wheat
• Rice
• Oats
• Barley
• Quinoa
• Buckwheat
• Rye

Wait a minute you say, how in the heck am I going to get rid of all that in my diet? Well, that is a good question. It is what the The Paleo Diet for Athletes recommends. But, aren’t these food sources a great source of vitamins and nutrients, you say. Well, yeah, but the negative effects of them especially if you suffer from high Cholesterol like me far outweigh their benefits. They are mainly Omega 6 and will cause inflamation and inflamation causes your body to produce more cholesterol, 90% of the cholesterol in your blood stream and liver is produced by you, not through dietary sources contrary to popular belief.

I did not say this was going to be easy. So, try not to think about it as saying good bye to some of your favorite breakfast cereals and breads, think about it as saying high to a lot of really great sources of vitamins and nutrients; Fruits, Vegetables, Some nuts like Walnuts and Macadamian and Oils like Flaxseed, Walnut, Avocado, Canola (not to be confused with Mazola (corn oil)), and Olive.

I am getting ahead of myself, OK, well I will repeat that last paragraph down below again, because that is some of what you need to do to get your Omega 3’s.

Meats, Meats, Meats and Fish

I wish this were easy, but like I said before it isn’t. Unless you know that the source of your meat was fed completely on grass and fed no grains, do not eat it! Because you are what you eat and if what you eat is something that ate grains, you are eating it too!  If your fish is farm raised, sorry, do not eat it! Fish that are farm raised are being adapted to digest grains. Can you believe it? They are selectively breeding fish to tolerate grains. What in the heck is going on?

That is it! Simple. Cut out your grains, non grass fed meats and farm raised fish.

So, let’s finish with how to get lot’s of Omega 3.

Great sources of Omega 3 in a pill are in my preferred order; Krill Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Fish Oil, You can get some great Krill Oil from Dr. Mercola. (Current guidelines are no more than 3 grams a day, but there is some dispute over this still. Isn’t there always?) Also, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, REFRIGERATE YOUR OMEGA 3 PILLS.

Fish are probably the single best source of of Omega 3. The most widely available source of Omega 3 in fish is cold water oily fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies and sardines.

Eggs produced by chickens that are fed grass and insects and not grains are also a great source of Omega 3.

From above, some nuts like Walnuts and Macadamian are pretty good sources of Omega 3. The ratios are not the best in any nuts beyond these two. I tend to eat a lot of Almond Butter, but I probably should follow my own advice on this one. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, REFRIGERATE YOUR NUTS! 

Oils like Flaxseed, Walnut, and Avocado are best for cold preperation like salads (You should not cook these oils as they will break down too easy) Canola (not to be confused with Mazola (corn oil)), and Olive are great for cooking as they have a good heat point and do not break down as fast under heat.

For further detailed information on Omega 3, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3

Thanks and I hope this was helpful. I know I learned a lot on this one.

Kevin

I will leave with one excerpt from Wikipedia on Omega 3 supplementation below. There are some people who should be very careful about taking any Omega 3 supplements and that is people with caridac risk.

[edit] Cardiac risk

Persons with congestive heart failure, chronic recurrent angina or evidence that their heart is receiving insufficient blood flow are advised to talk to their doctor before taking n−3 fatty acids. It may be prudent for such persons to avoid taking n−3 fatty acids or eating foods that contain them in substantial amounts.^[53]

In congestive heart failure, cells that are only barely receiving enough blood flow become electrically hyperexcitable. This, in turn, can lead to increased risk of irregular heartbeats, which, in turn, can cause sudden cardiac death. n−3 fatty acids seem to stabilize the rhythm of the heart by effectively preventing these hyperexcitable cells from functioning, thereby reducing the likelihood of irregular heartbeats and sudden cardiac death. For most people, this is obviously beneficial and would account for most of the large reduction in the likelihood of sudden cardiac death. Nevertheless, for people with congestive heart failure, the heart is barely pumping blood well enough to keep them alive. In these patients, n−3 fatty acids may eliminate enough of these few pumping cells that the heart would no longer be able to pump sufficient blood to live, causing an increased risk of cardiac death.^[53]